Married To My Billionaire Bestfriend

Chapter 34 - Eleanor Collection

Chapter 34 - Eleanor Collection

Ava

After having lunch with my dad, Ace and I were on the flight back to Utah on Ace's private jet.

My head was resting on his shoulder when I couldn't hold myself back from asking, "Ace, why did you never tell me about your elder sister?"

I felt Ace stiffen beside me, but soon, he answered me, "It wasn't just you. I wanted to think of her as less as possible, and so did the rest of my family. That's why no one ever brings her up in conversation. It's not like we forgot her; she's always in the back of our minds like Dad is. It's just we don't talk about her. Because whenever Mom remembers her, she breaks down in tears, sometimes even worse. I'm sure you remember Mom crying in the kitchen during Lily's baby announcement party."

I nodded in understanding. "But I don't see why you couldn't have told me. You don't think I would have blabbed about her in front of Mom, right?"

"No, of course not," he immediately protested, then he let out a sigh. "I just didn't know how to bring her up to you. Her death was..." His lips trembled as he spoke the next words, "I found her first. She was eighteen back then, and I was sixteen. That day, she was lying on her bed, almost as if she was sleeping. But when I tried to wake her up..." He closed his eyes at the memory, and I rubbed his upper arm and chest.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you aren't comfortable—"

"No, I have to get this off my chest. You have a right to know, and I'm sorry I hadn't told you until now."

"It's okay, Ace. Take as much as time you want."

He nodded and took a few deep breaths before continuing, "So when she didn't wake up after so much calling, I noticed her lips were turning blue and there was a bottle on her nightstand, which was apparently poison."

"So she... committed suicide by taking poison?" I asked cautiously, immensely feeling bad for Ace for having to go through that and for his sister, who had been forced to take such a step.

He shook his head.

"Then?"

"Did I tell you yet that she-she was raped?" Seeing my shocked look, he continued, "I guess not. Well, in fact, she was gang-raped by some rich boys at a party. It was a party where Dad took Ella, and there she was raped by the sons of Dad's close business friends. Even after getting to know that, those people turned a blind eye and supported their sons, while my dad felt extremely guilty for taking Ella to that party and for being unable to bring her justice. Even though we were affluent back then, we were no match against so many other equally affluent families. But Dad didn't give up. He kept trying to gather clues, and just when he was near, Ella killed herself, or more like, she was killed by those people."

"How did you know that?"

"Because there was an intruder in the mansion on the day Ella died. Besides, Ella was never the type to commit suicide. She was very strong; she was my idol. If she was alive, she might have been the one to take over Dad's business, rather than me."

"I can imagine she was amazing like you."

He smiled sadly. "Yeah. She was the best sister in the world." Now, I understood why he was so overprotective of Emma. He didn't want to lose her as well. "Unfortunately, Ella's death wasn't the end of it. Dad kept pursuing the case, and a year later, he was killed too. His murder was faked to look like an accident."

I hummed. I knew about that, but Ace had only told me it was an accident back then. "So you started killing those businessmen and their sons to take revenge, is that it?"